


Juniper's Story (Working Title)

by DarkDjinniMenace



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Gen, Original work - Freeform, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22383568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkDjinniMenace/pseuds/DarkDjinniMenace
Summary: Join Juniper in her adventure through a fantasy region of the author's creation. This story is based on information found in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition books, including but not limited to: Player's Handbook, Xanathars Guide to Everything, Monster Manual, and Volo's Guide to Monsters. However, not everything will be true to the source material and in fact some things may be altered to make the story interesting.
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

The early morning sunlight cuts through the window onto my face, and I groan, rolling over to avoid it. I lay in bed for a couple more moments before remembering I’m going to be hunting today with some of my other tribe mates, Silver Fang and Butterfly Song specifically. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I climb out of bed and stretch a bit, extending my claws towards the ceiling. Then I grab my clothes, just some shorts and a shirt that match my dark fur, as well as my gear: my longbow and short swords stored under my bed, plus my quiver from a hook on the wall.

Quietly, I go into the large living room and see my mom brewing up a tonic of some kind. I look over to one of the patient beds and see a male catfolk resting in it, his face slightly contorted in pain.

“Morning Mom,” I say softly, hugging her as she focuses on the concoction.

“Morning, Jun. How did you sleep?”

“Fairly well. Definitely better than Mirror. How is he?”

“He’ll be much better as soon as he drinks this,” Mom lifts the ladle out of the concoction and takes it to him. He wakes quickly and drinks it down. Mom whispers to him, “Just continue to rest for a little while dear. You should be right as rain by sundown.” He nods, giving her a small smile, then closes his eyes, the pain absent from his face now.

“What happened to him?” I ask Mom as she walks back to the pot of medicine.

“He ate a poisonous plant yesterday. Whether it was an accident or some cruel joke, I’m unsure, but he was lucky someone was there to notice and bring him to me. I made sure he puked it up so he should be fine. If anything, I’m just being cautious.”

I nod. “Isn’t that like the second time this week he ended up eating something like that though? I wonder if it’s some thing else.”

“Yes, there might be something else at work here. He hasn’t been himself since he went hunting solo a couple weeks ago.” I scrunch my brow and hum, putting a finger to my mouth.

“HEY! Juniper!” A gravelly, familiar voice rings out, knocking me out of my thoughts. “We’re leaving you behind!”

“Speaking of hunting,” Mom says, a small smirk on her face. I chuckle softly.

“Yeah, looks like I’ll have to go. I’ll see you later Mom.” I lean forward and kiss her on the forehead.

“Be safe, my child.” She says as she waves goodbye to me as I dash out of my home and my mom’s infirmary.

I skid to a halt in front of the large male catfolk, almost barreling into him.

“As if you’re leaving without me, Silver! I’m the best hunter in the whole tribe!”

He sneers at me a little, “Only cuz I taught you, squirt!” He reaches his arm around my neck in a headlock and goes to press his knuckles on my skull, but I squirm out of his grasp and put him in a headlock of my own. He’s much taller than I am, so my feet are on his lower back as we wrestle. I bite on his head.

“Yagh!” He shakes his head a bit, so I stop biting and we chuckle a bit. He taps my arm, “C’mon, we should get going, or they’re gonna be leaving without _us_.”

“They’ll be the ones in trouble if that happens!” I say, releasing him with a small smirk on my face. We laugh a bit more and start making our way toward the rest of the group, which is at the other end of the camp.

Silver and I are catfolk in an all catfolk tribe. His pelt is grey with dark grey stripes and he has light blue eyes with a sharpness to them. We’ve lived in the forest for many years with the oldest generation in the tribe remembering brief periods before we had created housing in the forest. The houses are made of wood and large leaves from the trees. Most of us live in houses with our parents and grand parents for our entire lives, though there are some cats who leave either to answer a yearning they have for adventure or some who just don’t like living in the forest and dream of finer things, usually heard from stories of travelers.

Yes, sometimes we do encounter adventurers, from humans to dwarves to even gnomes. They typically can be reasoned with and either are looking for something in the forest, a way out of the forest, or need a place to rest. Regardless of what it is, we are usually pretty well stocked in food and a few traveling supplies, and with lots of knowledge of this forest we usually help adventurers in whatever way we can.

We do our best to keep out of trouble with other denizens of the forests, unless we need to hunt. Rarely anything is seen out of the ordinary or malevolent, in fact I think the last incident we had involving anything terrible was the werewolf that attacked the camp. It happened about eight years ago. I still don’t like to talk about it.  
As Silver and I are reaching the group of other hunters, I feel a tap on my shoulder. When I turn my head, I see my best friend, Jade Branch. She has a tortoise-shell pelt and is training with my mom to become a healer. Heavens know we need more of those in the tribe.

“Hey, good morning Jade!”

“Morning Jun!” Jade wraps her arms around me and I embrace her as well, squeezing tightly. She releases me and says, “How are things?”

“Things are great! Me and Silver were just about to head out for some hunting today.”

Jade smiles, “That sounds like fun. You gonna bring back a bear again?”

“Yeah, except this time Silver’s gonna be the one taking the hits,” I grin widely and elbow him in the gut as I say this. He grunts as Jade giggles a little.

“Oh by the way,” I continue, Jade’s ears twitch a little, “Do you know what happened to Mirror? He’s back again at Mom’s house.”

Her brow furrows and she lets out a small sigh, “Yeah, he ate some yew berries. He had said he thought they were cherries for some reason.” Silver and I look exchange looks of confusion, and when we look back she nods, “I know. I have no idea how you confuse the two. Especially after we explained the differences to him last time this happened.”

“I wonder if it’s something else then,” I ponder out loud. Silver adds, “It might be a curse of some kind. Damn Fey.”

Jade grows a thoughtful look and nods again, “You two are probably on the right track. I’ll see if we can’t test this theory. If you guys run into any cherries and yew berries, make sure to grab a few for me so we can test this theory.”

I smile at Jade, “We’ll keep an eye out for them. Although,” I trail off furrowing my brow and glancing to the side, “I don’t think I’ve seen any cherry trees in the forest. We might have to go to town to get them.”

Jade lets out a soft hum, closing her eyes and crossing her arms, “I’ll ask Blossom if we have any cherries or yew berries, then. Thanks for helping me figure this out Jun!”

“Hey, I’m more than happy to help out! It would be awful if we lost one of the best protectors of the camp to some berries.” Jade smiles and laughs a little, then reaches to embrace me, and I return her gesture.

“You two better get going. Looks like your group is getting a bit antsy.”

“Oh shoot! Yeah, we better get going! C’mon Silver,” I turn to face him and he’s already gone. Turning all the way around I see him walking towards the group and he shouts back at me, “Already ahead of ya, squirt.” Growling slightly, I turn back to Jade and make a face of frustration, to which she laughs at.

“I’ll see you later Jade!” I say to her as I start charging towards the rest of the group.

“Later, Jun!”

When Silver and I finally catch back up to the rest of the group, we find that it consists of around ten other catfolk, two of which look like new hunters, and one of which is another close friend of mine.

“Song!” A lithe, young catfolk with a pale orange pelt turns and smiles at me and Silver. I reach out and ruffle the fur on his head a bit.

“Good morning Jun, Silver. You guys ready to hunt?”

“Ha! I’m always ready for the hunt!” I say. Silver rolls his eyes.

“Hmm, I’m glad to hear that,” Song says, another soft smile on his face. “I see you brought your swords this time, Jun.”

I look down, giving them a gentle pat then returning my gaze to Song, “Mhm! Can never be too prepared.”

“Too prepared for what?”

“Oh, don’t you know, Song?” Silver interjects, “There are all kinds of creatures in the Forest, aside from us and our prey… Legend has it, there are super rats that live in the swamp, ones that are twice my size, and three times yours!” I roll my eyes, and Song’s grow bigger. Silver continues, “I heard recently from Needle the other day that there’s a horned man wandering the forest, too,” Song’s tail drifts towards his face and he grabs it with both his hands.

“He was on scouting duty at night, when he noticed some rustling in the brush about ten feet away. So, the curious cat he is, he climbed down from his tree, and went to approach it, and when he was a couple steps away, a Giant Man with Glowing Red Eyes and Large Curly Horns towered over him from the brush! He tried to shoot it with an arrow but it just went right through him!”

“What happened next?!”

“What else was he going to do? He tried to get away as fast as he could, but before that, the thing grabbed his tail and lifted him up slowly, his glowing eyes piercing through Needle’s very soul. And with a large smack, the thing’s jaw opens slowly and-”

“Aieeee! Stop stop stop! I can’t hear any more!” Song shrieks and Silver begins to laugh, “It’s not funny! That’s the kind of stuff I don’t need running through my head when I’M on scouting duty!”

I roll my eyes again, “Song, you know Silver’s just messing with you. Needle’s fine, I saw him just yesterday, tail and all. What you need to know is that Silver is terrified of faeries.” Silver stops laughing.

“Oh is that so?” Song says, looking over to Silver, a small sneer forming on his face.

“Yep. If you can talk one into helping you out, theeen-”

“Hey, that’s not funny Jun.” I give him a snarky smirk, “What? I’m just saying, that if Song wanted to get you back for all the scary stories you’ve told, all he has to do is get some outside help.” I give him a playful wink.

Silver shakes his head, a somber look on his face, “You know we don’t talk to the Fey in this forest for a reason. We’ve lost good cats to them in the past, Jun, for being reckless and disrespecting them.”

“I know, Silver. I’m sorry for even mentioning the idea.”

“It’s okay Jun, you were just fooling around. Besides, I know Song wouldn’t be stupid enough to even entertain the thought anyway.” Song nods in agreement to which I raise my eyebrows at him.

“What Jun? You don’t believe that I’d resist looking for help from a Fey?”

Shaking my head I respond, “Song, it’s not that I think you’d have trouble fighting back, nor that you’re too stupid to even consider asking a Fey for help with a prank, but you are sometimes too sweet to say ‘No’ to a request from someone who’s even just slightly deceptive.” His mouth gapes as I say this, and he stumbles to find a response as his face flushes. Silver and I exchange glances and stifle laughs.

“Um, sorry to interrupt,” both of the new hunters looks at the three of us. I face them and smile at them as they continue, “What were you saying about not trusting the Fey of the forest?” Me, Song, and Silver all look at each other with concern in our faces, and then back at the new hunters.

“Are you two new to hunting?” I ask. They both nod, “What are your names?”

“My name is Seven Stripes.” She’s a wiry catfolk with a black pelt and some gray stripes which I can see reach her flanks. The young man next to her says quietly, “Bright Flame.” He has a dark orange pelt contrasted to his brilliant orange eyes, though he keeps them focused on the ground.

“Well Seven, Bright, I’m Shining Juniper, and these are my hunting mates, Silver Fang and Butterfly Song. And the thing about the Fey in this forest is that they cannot be trusted,” I start solemnly, ”If you encounter one, the best you can do, is run back to another hunter, either from your group or a different one. And do not tear your eyes off them should they appear before you.” They look positively terrified.

“There’s strength in numbers,” Silver chimes in, “and while ultimately the Fey of the forest are harmless, if you try to engage them or disrespect them, or if you’re very unlucky to encounter an especially spiteful sprite, they have powerful magic that can be very dangerous.” The new hunters still look scared, so I continue on, “Luckily, my mother is the tribe’s Healer and she’s very good at what she does. If something bad does befall either of you, just go visit her.”

“And besides, we rarely encounter any Fey in the forest!” Song says, “I’m sure your first day will be fun!”

“Yeah, kind of like your first day, where you shot an arrow in my back, right Song?” Silver turns to Song giving him a cheeky look as I roll my eyes.

“Hey, I said I was sorry, and made sure to give you extra food after that session!”

“Aww don’t make such a fuss kiddo, I’m only messin’ with ya,” Silver says as he ruffles Song’s head, “I don’t think I could hunt without you anymore to be honest.” Song gives a wide grin as Silver says this. Seven and Bright smile at us and Seven says, “Thanks for telling us more about the Fey and what to expect on the hunt today, Juniper, Silver, Song.”

“Hey, anything to help make a first day go better!” I beam at them, “If you guys need any more tips, I’m one of the best hunters in our tribe so I can help in practically any way.” I can almost see Silver rolling his eyes as I say this.

“If you five are done prattling on like a pack of parrots, then we can finally begin this morning’s hunt.” I turn to look at the guy with the egotistic tone, and of course it’s Cloud Drop, an overly prideful catfolk with an all gray pelt. With his nose turned up, he gives a small glare full of vinegar. The two youngsters shrink a little as does Song, but me and Silver just stare back at him silently. He huffs, and turns back around, grabs his bow, and nocks an arrow. The entire group does the same, almost in unison.

Then everyone goes into the forest, and after about 20 paces, Needle in the Dark, an almost entirely black pelted catfolk save for one needle-like patch of white fur on his chest, the same cat Silver mentioned earlier, takes one arrow and sticks it into a nearby tree and ties a pale yellow cloth around it, which just barely sticks out from the rest of the scenery of the very green forest.

“This is our meet up spot. Return here when you’re done.” Everyone nods, then splits up into three groups; one group of four which has Bright and Seven and two groups of three, my group and Drop’s.


	2. The Hunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> made an edit to a scene where being in first person wouldn't make much sense since I hadn't mentioned one of the characters in the scene and they weren't visible to the person with the pov

Silver and I lead Song deeper into the woods and away from the rest of the groups. We dash across the forest floor, moving past fallen trees and low hanging branches almost like they’re not there, ducking and weaving and dashing pumps blood through my body and fills me with adrenaline. I keep my wits about me as we travel deeper into the forest, scanning the floor as well as around trees, brush, and greenery. We’re not being followed by anything by my observations. Looking at Song, he smiles softly as we continue to run. Silver is focusing on where we’re going, and I shift my attentions to that as well.

After several minutes, we stop, all nearly breathless. Glancing around, there’s still no sign of us being followed, and I look back at Song again to confirm. I think we’re good he mouths to me, and I nod. I turn my head to the sky as I take a final breath in, when I notice a black blob up in the trees. It’s so high up, I can’t make out anything about it, but I focus a bit harder and let out a soft sigh and shake my head; it’s only a raven, and it’s not unusual to see a raven while we hunt. Usually we leave them be, and sometimes leave a carcass behind for them if we think we over-hunted.

“Oh!” I gasp, the other two look at me. I mouth, if you guys see any yew berries or cherries, make sure to grab some. Jade and my mom need them to help diagnose Mirror. Both Song and Silver nod at me, and I nod back at them. Extending my claws, I mar the side of a nearby tree, carving it up nicely so that it’s clearly my mark on it. Turning to the boys, the notice my mark, nod, then leave the scene, as do I.

With my bow in hand and an arrow on the string, I stalk through the forest, my senses primed and looking for any movement and ears tuned to any sound. I hear a shudder of brush, and loose an arrow immediately in the direction of the noise with the reward of a soft thunk of the metal hitting my target. Approaching the brush, I pull it back to reveal a fallen rabbit. Picking up the quarry, I gently yet quickly pull the arrow from its body and put the rabbit in a hempen sack on my waist. Drawing the same arrow, I resume my hunt.

As the search for more prey continues, I manage to find a couple yew shrubs. I grab a handful of them and stuff them into the pockets of my shorts, a wide grin on my face. _‘We’ll cure you yet, Mirror!’_ As I quietly revel in my accomplishment, my ears twitch as I hear a distant cry of what sounds like a large owl. I furrow my brow and slowly head in the direction of the screech, bow in hand. As I continue, the cries grow louder and I hear crashing, like tree limbs being torn off trees, when suddenly, I see Butterfly Song run past me, a dreaded look on his face.

“Hi Juniper!” He squeaks as he dashes past me, and climbs up a nearby tree. I follow suit and hide behind a different tree. The spine-tingling screech sounds again, practically right in my ear. I take a quick peek at what is making the noise from behind my hiding spot, and its an owlbear; aptly named, a bear with the face and voice of a barn owl and the ferocity of a starving bear. I swallow hard and try to hide my breathing. Meanwhile, I hear the creature’s breathing, almost as if it’s searching for something. My bag! I grab the sack with now three dead rabbits and chuck it in the opposite direction of me and Song. The breathing stops, both mine and the owlbear’s.

I hear its footfalls as it goes toward my bag, it takes a couple quiet steady breaths in, and-

“EEEEEYH!” I cover my ears and flinch as it screeches to the heavens. I take another look out from behind the tree, and I meet its gaze. My heart drops as I gaze into its empty stare.

“EEEEEEEYA!” It shrieks again, this time as it charges at me!

“RRRAH!” Suddenly, another figure charges out from nowhere, smacking it right into the tree I was hiding behind, stalling it for a moment as I fall backwards onto my backside. I look up, and it’s Silver! He had tackled the beast into the tree, a spiked metal chain in his hand.

“Thanks-” I say scrambling to my feet.

“Don’t thank me yet, sq- Oogh!” He gets knocked back a little as the owlbear fights back, swinging a large arm into Silver. I grab my shortswords, one in each hand, ready to engage.

Now preoccupied with Silver, the owlbear rushes him and bites his arm, blood gushing from the new wound. Silver groans but bears it. Clenching my fists and still right next to the beast, I swing both my blades into its hide. It makes contact, but I hardly feel like I’ve done anything to it. Shrieking, it turns to face me when Silver smashes it over the head with his spiked chain, and then an arrow hits the beast in its flank. I turn to see Song sitting on a tree limb about twelve feet up, bow in hand.

The owlbear, ignoring the arrow, keeps its attention on me and tries to bite me, but I narrowly sidestep its attempt. Silver bashes it again with his weapon and lets out a snarl, though it doesn’t seem to affect the owlbear’s morale; it clearly just wants something to eat, despite how resistant its would-be meals are. With its gaze still on me, I move around it, slashing its other flank.

“Over here, ugly!” I taunt as I take a couple steps back. The owlbear turns to face me and screeches, and again I see Song loose another arrow into it.

Screaming, it seems to flinch at the pain of that attack. I can see some blood from where I struck it, and it lets out a huff, then charges at me, knocking me onto the ground and knocking my weapons out of my hands. It pins me down with its large arms, its weight crushing me, and I scream. It attempts to take a bite out of my face, and I see fangs come down on me, not its fangs but of a real bear’s fangs. I’ve been in this position before. I jerk my head away just in time and shriek again, and I bunny kick its stomach, trying to force it off me, but it won’t budge.

Then, I feel a force hit the bear’s flank and it stumbles off me and I scramble back to my feet again, but I just crawl behind Silver, who had shoved the bear off me.

“You all right, Jun?”

“Y-y-yeah. Wasn’t ready to-to have a repeat of…”

“Of last time, yeah?”

I nod.

“Don’t worry kid, it’s more than just you and me.” We both glance at Song, who shoots two more arrows at the beast, who then turns to him and screams. I smile weakly. Silver lends me a hand, and helps me up, my legs are like jelly, but I shake my head and steel my resolve.

“Let’s go-!” I say to Silver, “HEY! BIRD BRAIN!” The owlbear turns to me. Silver and I walk up in unison, and I grab my swords from the ground, and brandish them slightly as we begin our approach. Then, I dash at it and slash at its neck as I run to it. I feel the metal bite into the beast and some confidence wells, right as it’s clawed arm strikes me and I fall down again. As I fall, I see Silver charge it too, and he strikes it with a wide swing of his chain, and there’s a resounding crunch, as the beast’s face caves in and it falls down, only its hind legs keeping it standing. Everyone remains where they are for a moment, then there’s a soft thud, as Song shoots another arrow into it. There’s no response. Both me and Silver look at him.

“I-I wanted to make sure!” We all look at each other for a moment, then back at Song and let out some soft laughs, ending in a sigh. Song climbs down his tree and approaches me, “You okay, Juniper? Oh, your side…” I look down, and there’s blood.

“Y-yeah… I’ll be fine. Nothing some bandages won’t fix.”

“Then I’ve got your fix~!” Song says, stooping down with some gauze and bandages. I let out a soft chuckle, “Thanks, Song, but don’t forget about Silver either.”

“Yeah, could use a little help.” He says, plopping down right next to me a small river of crimson slowly flowing down his chest.

“I’ve only got two arms guys! Jun, will you-?”

I nod, a grin on my face, “Sure thing, Song.” And I start dressing Silver’s bite wound.

Once everyone is all patched up, we take another moment to rest. It’s a little past midday at this point, and we compare what we’ve gotten so far. Among the three of us, we’ve caught six rabbits and one elk, and an owlbear.

“Do we want to take it back to the camp with us?” I ask.

“I don’t think we can, not in our state. Hell, I dunno if I can even take that elk back with this bite.”

“Don’t worry about that Silver, I’ll take care of the larger game.”

“Wow, Song, look at you. When did you start being a tough guy?” Silver asks, his eyebrows raised.

“Heh, well I’ve learned from the best, that’s for sure.”

“I haven’t shown you a tough guy act though, Song.” I interject. 

Silver slugs me for that one and I sneer at him, rubbing my nose with my thumb. As we’re chatting, I hear some flapping, and lo and behold, some ravens swoop down and start feasting on the slain owlbear. I watch them for a minute while Silver and Song talk, and a small smile forms on my face. Even though we weren’t able to make use of the owlbear, the cycle of life continues with other creatures of the forest feasting on the spoils of fights. It’s an interesting thing, how even if somehow, if we hadn’t been here, that owlbear may have slain something else and those ravens would be eating that instead. Or maybe even some fungus would claim the owlbear when its time to go comes. Life is fleeting and we have the power to make it what it is.

“Hey Jun, you okay?” Silver says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Hunh- oh yeah, just thinking.”

“Thinking about…?” Silver asks.

“Just, about life in the forest.”

“Ahh, I see. Yeah, it’s a right mess.”

“I thought you were having a staring contest with the ravens.” Song says.

I start to chuckle, then pause, “Wait, what?”

“Oh. Well the way those ravens were looking back at you, I thought you were just asserting yourself.” I turn back to the ravens, and about half of them are staring back at us, while the others keep feeding.

“No, I… hadn’t noticed.” My heart feels funny as I maintain eye contact with the birds. My skin crawls. “Hey, let’s get going guys.”

“Why? It’s not even time to head back yet.” Silver says, he has one eyebrow raised as I look at him. I give him a look of concern, and he sighs, “Well, let’s at least scavenge some more. We could stand to have some more berries and such for food along with all of all this meat.”

Song nods, “I haven’t found any cherries yet, we should try to look for those, Jun.” I do a double take at the ravens behind me, and all of them are eating this time, but I furrow my brow. Turning back to Song and Silver, “Okay. That’s fine with me. I did find some yew berries already so we don’t have to worry about that.” Song gives me a smile as Silver stands up and I follow suit.

We while away the hours just searching for wild fruits and nuts and we manage to find some blackberries, walnuts, chestnuts, gooseberries, a small handful of oranges, and luckily some cherries! After finding about half a bag’s full of nuts and berries, we made our way back towards the tree I had marked earlier to take a small break. We were sitting talking for a little bit, when I heard a quiet rustling from the brush nearby. Standing up I approached the brush, my hands on my swords, when I noticed a familiar fur pattern, well, a dark orange ear, anyway.

“Hey!” I shout as I see Bright Flame and almost immediately, he whirls around to face me and loses his grip on his bowstring, the thing shooting an arrow right into the ground at my feet. I look at the missile, then turn back to him, “I can see the hunting’s going good!” His face goes even redder somehow as some brush rustles behind him and Seven Stripes steps out from behind him. She looks between the three of us, then at Bright, and again back at us. She mouths, _Are you guys done already?_

 _Yeah, we ran into an owlbear…_ I do a silent laugh and scratch the back of my head. _Please… Don’t tell Drop…_

She tilts her head, _Why?_

I let out a sigh, _He’d never let it go. Besides, he’ll find out when he sees us anyway…_ I reach down and pluck the arrow from the soil and hand it to Bright. He snatches it quickly from my hand, and I give a small smile as I step back.

Seven continues, relaxing and using a whisper, “So how much did you guys get so far?”

“Between the three of us, we have six rabbits, an elk, and some fruits and nuts” Song whispers back. Seven nods approvingly as Song asks back, “What about you two?”

At this, Bright produces a single rabbit from his sack, as does Seven. Seven says, “We hadn’t even thought of foraging though.”

I nod quickly, “Yeah, if you feel strapped for things to bring back, foraging is a great way to pad out what you’ve gotten. Just make sure to have a separate pouch for it. Err, well I like to keep them separate anyway. Just be careful what you bring back. Some fruits can be poisonous.” They nod.

Bright slowly looks up at me, “… Any tips for… Hunting game…?”

I put my hand to my chin, and look away for a moment, then look back into Bright’s eyes, “Keep your senses sharp, stay focused, and trust your gut. Instinct is absolutely a key moment in hunting. And don’t be afraid of missing your shot. You’ll always be able to make another one.” He returns my gaze with kind of a blank stare. I can’t tell if he thinks I’m messing with him or not, until a a couple moments pass, and then he furrows his brow and looks away from me slightly with a frown on his face.

“How about we hunt together some time? I can show you how I do things, if you’d like.” He looks slightly intrigued for a moment, but gives no response. “If you ever do want to, just let me know and we can work together. I looove hunting, so I’m down whenever.”

“Yeah, she’s really into this stuff, kid,” Silver says, and I turn back to face him, “So if you’re really committed, Jun’s the way to go. You’ll learn a lot from her.” I look at him with wide, gleaming eyes and an ear-to-ear smile. Silver flushes slightly and scratches the back of his head as he looks away, “Not that you’re any better than me, squirt!”

“Awwwh, I can’t believe you complimented her like that, Silver! And I thought I was the sweet one!”

“Shut up Song!” Silver runs over and pushes him onto the ground, and Song, Seven, and I all start laughing. Once we all settle down, Bright tugs on the sleeve of Seven’s shirt and motions for her to follow him.

“We better get going… It was great meeting back up with you guys!”

“It was nice seeing you too, Seven. Good luck!” She waves good-bye as her and Bright shuffle into the brush and vanish. Right as they leave, I feel a tingling on the back of my neck. Turning around, I see four ravens on the branches above us, and staring right at the three of us.

“Hey, guys…”

“Yeah Jun?” They both answer in unison, and I motion with my head to look up at the ravens.

“What do you think?” I say, tearing my face away from them, but keeping my ears open.

“About what?” Silver says, one eyebrow raised, “They’re just ravens.”

“You really think so?” I say in a hushed voice, “Something seems off…” Song looks concerned too, but Silver says, “Yeah I’m sure. They’re probably just hoping to get some more food from us. You know how scavengers are.” I frown and furrow my brow. Something is off with these birds. They’re eerily keeping eyes on us, and I think Song thinks so too.

“We should get back to the starting point.”

Silver nods, “Yeah, I think we have enough food to sustain us and some other members. I hope those kids get some more food.”

“They’re new, but they certainly want to improve and have spirit. Well, Seven has spirit anyway.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they’re going to be fine,” Song says, adjusting the elk he’s carrying on his back, “And if you coach them Jun, I’m sure they’ll really improve.”

“Aww, thanks Song. I’m glad someone recognizes my talents!” I sneer pridefully at Silver as I say this and he frowns, looking away with some red in his face. Song lets out a hearty laugh.

Continuing our march back to the starting point, I keep doubletaking the branches overhead, and the ravens have been following us since we left the place we ran into Bright Flame and Seven Stripes. In fact, a couple more joined their ranks with eight on our tails now.

“You know what,” I say, breaking the silence between the eleven of us. Grabbing my bow off my back, I knock an arrow, and loose it at the ravens.

“Geez, Juniper! What’s wrong with you?!” Silver says.

“Shh!” I say, as I step back a couple paces to avoid the return of the arrow. The ravens didn’t leave after I shot the arrow at them. In fact, they avoided the shot, landed and continued to stare at us.

“What do you mean, ‘shh’?!” Silver continues, and I point up at them. I grab another arrow and loose it. The ravens scramble away, then perch back to where they’re overhead. “You still don’t think that’s weird?!”

“No, I don’t. If anything, they’re probably following Song cuz of the elk on his-” The arrow returns and lands right in one of the ravens, which falls straight down onto the floor. And as soon as it does, its appearance changes into that of a red-skinned humanoid with bat-like wings, short black horns, cloven feet, and a scorpion tail. “-back.” Silver looks at the creature, mouth agape. Suddenly, the remaining ravens over head caw and screech as they descend on us. They swirl, scream, and attack us with their beaks and talons, even beating us with their wings. The chaos of being nearly blinded by a cloud of black feathers and claws whirls around Silver, Song, and I, and while I try slashing at them with my claws, they peck and scratch my arms. It is a relentless attack of vengeance for their fallen friend, but the feeling of greasy feathers and scratching of talons pushes me over the edge and I shout, “Run!” to my hunting mates, and we all book it.

As we flee, the ravens continue to swarm with us, pecking at chipping at us with all they have, so I draw my swords and start slashing around me as violently as I can. It’s such a blurry, wild mess I can’t tell if it does anything, yet I keep doing swinging. Whatever these things are, they are persistent and tough, but I’m not dying here!

Right as we approach the meeting spot, two of the would-be ravens change into their weird forms, both of them with scorpion tails, wings, and horns. One puts their arms under mine, but I headbutt it and it drops me before it can get anywhere, and the other one tries to do the same to Silver, but he manages to reverse the situation, grabbing him instead and throwing him to the ground. The strange vampire scorpion is on the floor for only a moment before it gets up and starts to fly away, clearly not that affected from being slammed into the dirt. We all manage to make it a bit farther and the would-be ravens have finally given up, and they turn tail starting to fly away. As they depart, I give them a parting shot, loosing an arrow in their direction. I don’t take a look back as we finally reach the meet up spot to reconvene with the other hunting groups.

The three of us panting and catching our breath, we reach the small clearing, with Drop’s group also there. They have two elks amongst them and he sneers at us.

“Only one deer? You guys are slipping,” He sneers down his nose at us. I glare at him.

“For your information,” I start, getting right in his face, “WE, were attacked by an owlbear! Then! When we were coming back here, some weird, bat winged, scorpion tailed, red freaks, DISGUISED AS RAVENS MIND YOU, attacked us! And I don’t know about Silver, but they Definitely tried to abduct me!”

“Sounds like you guys had a wild hunt,” Drop smirked, and his two teammates share worried looks. He continues, “But are you sure that last part wasn’t a dream or something? Mayhap the Fey got to you Juniper.” At this I feel my fur bristle, and I clench the handles of my swords when I feel a soft hand on my shoulder. Turning my furious gaze back, I see Song. He looks ragged, but he mouths, _It’s okay Jun._

“It was no dream, Drop,” Silver says, pushing himself between the two of us, his figure almost towering over Drop. He seems to say something to Cloud Drop, but my ears are pounding, so I can’t hear him. Drop takes a couple steps back. Silver continues, “Let’s wait for the others.” I let out a quiet growl as I glare at Drop, who still has his smug look on his face, but he turns to face his group. Song stays close to me as I put away my swords and take a seat on a nearby stump, my eyes burning a hole in Drop’s back. One of Cloud Drop’s friends walks over, a male catfolk with a dark brown pelt with light brown markings on his face and chest.

“H-hey,” He stutters a little. Raising my eyebrow at him, I close my eyes and inhale deeply, hold it for a moment, then release in a long sigh. Looking into his green eyes, I say, “Hello. I don’t think we’ve met?”

“Ah, n-no we haven’t. I’m M-Merry, Merry B-B-Bird.”  
I force a smile as genuinly as I can, “Hi, I’m Shining Juniper.” Looking over Merry’s shoulder, I see Song looking at the two of us. His ears are facing us and he looks focused on Merry. Is he wary of something?

I focus back to what Merry is saying, “-aid that r-ravens atta-attacked you guys?”

“Yes, I did. I know they did.” With my eyes narrowed at him, I lift up my arms and show where some of my fur had been torn out from their beaks attacking me, and some of the talon strikes as well, “They were much more sturdy and aggressive than regular ones though.”

“D-did they really sh-shape-shapeshift too??” His pitch raises a little as he asks. Either he’s a very good actor or really interested in what I have to say. I glance at Song, who is now also sitting down on the grass, but still has his focus on our conversation, and I sneak a glance at Drop, who is talking a little bit with his other friend. Facing Merry, I nod my head, and lowering my voice I say, “They really did. They changed into these creatures with bat-like wings, small black horns, and scorpion tails. It was unlike any Fey I’ve heard about.” He nods as I say this, “They u-usually have bug-like wings, the ones wh-who can f-f-fly anyway…”

“Have you seen a Fey before, Merry?”

He nods again, “Once…” My eyes widen and I lean back slightly. Either this guy has really good, or really bad luck. He stands up, “S-sorry about Drop, by the way. He can be a-a real prick sometimes.” I let out a short snort, and raise my voice a bit, “He really can be a huge pain in the ass.” Drop looks over at me, a look of frustration on his face, and I give him a mean gesture back. Merry looks a little mortified. Turning back to him, “Thanks for talking with me Merry. I’ll see you later.” He nods slightly then walks back to Drop. I crawl over to Song because I don’t feel like walking, and he says, “You think it was okay to tell him about that the ravens?”

“Yeah. Better that more people know about what happened so that they can be more vigilant about it happening to them.”

“Even if they think you’re a loon because of it?”

“Hey, the only one who benefits from believing I’m a loon is those weird dark Fey. If people think I’m just spinning tales, then that’s their problem. I just wanna give them as much truth as I can give.” Song nods along as I say this, then I keep going and ask, “Are you okay Song? Did those things hit you very much?”

“Hmm? Oh, no I’m okay, but the game we caught is a little damaged.” I look at it and the back of the elk has some small scratches and skewer-like holes in it. Silver approaches the both of us, “Hey, what are you kids talkin’ about down there?”

“Oh, we’re just plotting on how to give Drop his karma,” I say, giving a small wink to Silver and he stifles a laugh.

“That’s not funny.”

In a hushed voice I say, “Hey, you know he needs to be brought down a peg or two.”

“Yeah, yeah. He could use a kick in the tail that’s for sure.” Silver goes over to the stump I was sitting on and plops down.

“Silver, you doing okay?”

“Yeah I am kiddo, just need a breather. That fight with the owlbear took a lot out of me. I’m not as young and spry as you and Song are.”

I nod, “Yeah, it was a tough fight, but if it weren’t for you, I probably would’ve had something to match this,” and I point to the scar I have on the top of my head. He snorts loudly, a smile on his face, “Aw it’s all in a day’s work, Juniper. Babysitting you two almost comes to me as easily as hunting.” He gives me a contented look, but in a mocking way.

Standing up to go slug Silver, I hear the brush rustle and Needle, Seven Stripes, Bright, and their fourth friend who I think is Windy Shore, all return to the meeting area. They have a young stag and some sacks bulging a little with what I assume are small game and perhaps some fruit.

“Welcome back you guys,” I say, a small smile on my face, “Looks like you two did really well!” I grin widely and Sev smiles back at me. I think Bright is also smiling, but he hides his face a bit. Needle in the Dark looks at me, Silver, and Song, “What happened to you three?”

“Owlbear.” Silver says. Needle gives a big nod, “They seem to be increasing in frequency lately.”

“It’s probably mating season for them.” I chime in and the two of them nod. Needle then says, “Okay everyone, let’s head back. We’ve got more than enough to feed us and plenty of other tribe mates.” We all nod and start picking up the big game two at a time, Needle and I helping Song carry the elk we killed, Silver and Drop’s group of three carrying their two elks, and Bright, Seven, and their other friend carrying the young stag the killed. As I walk with Needle, I tell him about what happened on our way back to the clearing.

“Huh. Well Juniper, you’ve always been truthful about these sort of things, so I’ll take your word for it. I’ll make sure to tell some of more people about this and see what we should do for future hunting missions.”

“Thank you for believing me, Needle. It means a lot to me.” He gives me a small smile and nod as we continue to haul the elk to the camp.


	3. Mysterious Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the year long disappearance, but once COVID kicked into high gear, I lost motivation to work on this piece since I just worked on it after work for the most part. So, since I could do anything for such a prolonged period of time, I ended up doing other things and not focusing on this story, which I felt bad about. BUT! I said I wanted to at least upload 3 chapters, and even if it's almost a year later, here it is!!!!!! Enjoy or dislike this as much as you want.

The sun is starting to set when we arrive back at the camp, and a soft golden glow shines over all of the cats and small houses. As soon as our groups come through the brush, we’re greeted by many other cats, “Welcome back!” most of them cheer at us as we step back home. Two older cats rush to Seven Stripes and Bright Flame when they finally come into full view. I think it might be their parents. Some other cats go over to them and take the stag they killed off toward the curing and treating part of the camp. We skin the game we catch and use the fur as clothes, linens, but some of the game with hardier skin becomes armor or patching for the roofs and walls of our living quarters. We treat the meat with salt and other spices then roast it to keep it fresher longer. Jerky is also a huge favorite among the tribe.  
Needle, Song, and I take the elk Song slayed over to the curing and treating cats in the area. I produce the rabbits I killed as well. Song turns around, but before he leaves he asks, “Jun you gonna be busy for a bit?”   
“Yeah, I was planning on helping with my rabbits. Why?”  
“I was going to back you up on your story from this morning, if you don’t mind?”  
“Oh! No, I don’t mind, but I was going to leave it to Needle for now. I don’t want to be a gossip when there’s game to tend to.” Song gives me a half frown, then nods. “Okay. I think I’ll try to back him up then. Make sure he keeps the story straight.” I confirm with him, and he leaves into the now bustling camp of cats. Taking the claw on my thumb, I carefully skin the six rabbits our group caught, separating their brown, grey, and white furs from their red flesh.  
As I work on this task, my mind wanders. Between Mirror’s strange ailment and those transforming ravens… Something is wrong in the forest. The most abnormal thing was probably the werewolf attack we suffered eight years ago. Thirteen of our tribesmen were turned into other lycanthropes, about twenty were seriously wounded, and five others were killed. I remember being only being sixteen at the time, and my sister, Hidden River, was only twelve at the time. If it wasn’t for her, I definitely would have been abducted by a Fey.

It was only a couple years before she died. We were out playing in the forest after dark, despite our mom telling us not to. Most everyone else was asleep, except for a few sleepy guards. We went out to play in a nearby stream since we didn’t get to that afternoon. I remember coaxing her into coming with me wasn’t too hard.  
“Hey Sis, let’s go swimming!”  
“Yeah! It was so hot today, and I need to cool off to sleep with how humid it is tonight.”  
“Me too! Plus, I want to show mom it’s fine!”  
She groaned as loudly as she could without drawing attention, “Juuuuun…”  
I remember laughing a bit, “Yeeeah?!”  
“Juuun…”  
“Shhh! We’re almost there!” I can still picture it. The shore of the brook twinkling softly from the barely risen half moon, fireflies occasionally glowing over the surface of the water as well, and the sound of the water lapping as it hits the small smooth rocks of the bank. I remember crickets chirping quietly, and some of the light from the camp wasn’t too far off as well, a couple of bushes being dimly illuminated in an orange glow.  
“Jun, we shouldn’t be out here, it’s dangerous.”  
“Aw c’mon! You were just saying it was too hot for you to sleep!”  
“Yeah, but-” And I splashed her with water. She growled and dove at me, missing, but she splashed me back. We played back and forth for a while. I lost track of time, and when we were tired and soaked through our fur we decided our fun was over. Panting, I remember a shining dim light approached me. It was a Fey, but she seemed so sweet and cute, I couldn’t resist her glamour, and she wanted my name. I almost gave it to her, but my sister covered my mouth as soon as I released a single letter through my lips.  
“We have to go, Sis.”  
“Awwh, but we only just met!” she cooed. My sister gripped my wrist with so much strength and focus, I thought she’d tear my arm off.  
“Ow-ow, hey! Quit tugging so hard!” I took one more glance over my shoulder at the Fey, who remained in place as my sister pulled me back through the brush into camp.

As I finish with the last rabbit skin, I let out a deep sigh and toss its fur to the fur pile, and its flesh into the other pile. Turning toward the other group of cats working on other animals, I say, “You guys need any more help?” One of them looks up, a slightly older cat woman with an all white pelt, looks at the piles I have, and says, “If you wanna add those to my pile, I can de-bone them and get to work on treating the meat.” Nodding, I take the animals and the furs and drop them off with her, and she says with a small smile, “Thanks for helping.”   
“I’m more than happy to help. It’s a little therapeutic, lets my mind wander.” She nods as I say this. “Oh, I’m Juniper.”  
“Oh! You’re…” I raise an eyebrow as she trails off, “I’m Winter Hide.”  
“Oh, hey aren’t you related to Silver?”  
“Yes! I believe our mothers were siblings? I’ve heard a bit about you, though mostly through your mother.”  
“Really? I’d think Silver would talk your ear off more with how close you two are.”  
“Oh, no, Silver and I rarely talk actually.” I nod slowly and we exchange some more small talk when she asks, “By the way, what were you thinking about earlier?”  
“Hm, oh uh. Just family stuff.”  
“Oh you mean Plume? He’s such an odd boy. But he’s very cute!”  
I chuckle a little bit, “Yeah, that’s Plume for ya. He’s pretty eccentric. Listen, Hide, I’ve gotta go.”  
She gives a small gasp, “Oh dear, I’m sorry for keeping you, Jun,” I smile and shake my head. I start taking my leave and say to her, “It’s okay. Let’s talk some more later, Hide! I’ve got some stories about Silver for you!” She chuckles softly and waves good-bye before turning back to her task. As I go back to my house I wander back to my sister, River. She was killed in the werewolf attack. I had been considering becoming a healer like my mom at the time and was even starting my training when it happened.

There was screaming from one side of the camp, not too far from my dwelling, and me and my sister left to see what was happening. And we saw it, an eight foot tall monster with muscle bound limbs and the face of a wolf. It was unrelenting and attacked any one who was unfortunate enough to be close enough to it. I remember seeing Silver in the front lines, and I think he has a scar from the attack, but the thing I remember the most, was when the werewolf found us, me and my sister River.  
I remember it swung one arm and flung a cat a couple feet through the air, red dripping from its claws, and me and my sister screamed. When we did, it turned its attention to us. I swear its eyes were glowing red, and it plowed its way through the crowd of cats surrounding it just to reach us. I grabbed my sister’s arm and ran for it. It was my turn to save her like she did for me that time.

“Jun?” My eyes flutter as I come back. I’m in front of my house, with Jade in the door way, she has a hand extended toward me, near my cheek. She pulls her hand back a bit, a look of concern on her face.  
“Hey, Jade. Sorry I was… I was thinking about River.”  
“Oh… Well, it’s okay Jun. We’re here.” She places her hand on my shoulder and smiles. I force a smile back and grip her hand that’s on my shoulder. Then something clicks. “Hey is Plume here?”  
From behind Jade I hear, “YEAH, I’m here sis.”  
“Hey lil’ bro!” I say as I walk into the house. He’s sitting in the armchair and is giving me a cold stare. I roll my eyes, “Plume.” His look softens, and he says, “What’s up Jun?”  
“Heeey, how much do you know about animals?”  
He raises an eyebrow and one corner of his mouth goes to the side before he squints at me and says, “Depends on the animal I suppose.”  
“Did something happen Jun?” Jade says, as she walks back in and sits down on the floor.  
“Yeah, you could say that. We uh, ran into some unexpected company.” The two exchange puzzled looks then look back at me.  
“We ran into eight ravens on our way back. They were intent on, watching us, Silver, Song, and I. They had been tailing us since we killed the owlbear and-”  
“You guys fought another bear?!” Plume’s eyes are wide as he looks at me. “Hm? Oh yeah.”  
“And that’s not the strange part?! Sorry, just. Forget I said anything. Keep going.”  
“Right, well. Since we fought, and won mind you, against the owlbear, we were tailed by six ravens. Maybe more than that. Anyway, as we gathered other things, I kept an eye out and about ten ravens were following us when we started coming back to camp. And I think that,  
“it’s suspicious,” Me and Jade say in unison, and I clap, “Thank you! Silver thought I was nuts! So I shoot a couple arrows at them, with a few of them being overhead. Both times, BOTH TIMES, these birds avoid the shots! Only on the return from the one I shot straight up did it knock one out. And that’s not it either!” Plume looks with wide eyes and a screwed up frown, “It’s not…?”  
“Nope, cuz when that raven falls out of the tree, it becomes this red-skinned humanoid with these small, pitch-black spikes on its head, goat feet, and weird, thin, fleshy wings, by the time it hits the ground. And that’s when the rest of the ravens attack the three of us!” Jade and Plume are silent with paled faces, Plume with a slack jaw.  
“They peck and claw at us and we try brushing them off but they’re persistent, so we start running! And I get my swords out and just start slashing!” I stand up and pretend to swing my swords, “And right, RIGHT when we get back, two more of them change into the creepy, dark, Fey things and they try grabbing us! I don’t know what in the world was happening, and it all happened so fast!”  
“It… Sounds like something.” Plume says, adjusting a bit in his seat, Jade is looking at the floor, her brow scrunched up and her fingers at her mouth.   
“Jade?”  
“Hmm? Oh, just thinking…” She trails off and keeps focus on the ground. She’s got an inkling, but it’s evading her. A moment or two pass before I remember. “Hey, that’s right!” I pull some yew berries and cherries from a bag. “I got these!” It takes her a moment, but Jade looks at my hand and she beams.  
“Awesome! Thanks Jun! We’ll try this out with Mirror tonight.” I grin widely and she continues, “But, Juniper, those things…”  
“Yeah. I’ve been calling them Dark Fey just because I’ve never seen nor heard of a Fey with red skin or black horns. I was kind of hoping you’d know something about them, Plume?”  
His eyes spin as I look to him and he shakes his head, “Why would I know anything about ‘Dark Fey’??”  
“I dunno! With some of the weird stuff you keep up on I thought it’d be in your area of knowledge.”  
He shakes his head again, “Jun, I dunno anything about these, ‘Dark Fey’. I’m more interested in the regular variety.” I roll my eyes.  
“Jun,” Jade says and I turn to her, “we could try going into town to ask someone. I think I know someone who would know about these Dark Fey.”  
“Hmm, okay. I think that’s what we should do. The more info we have, the better equipped we are to deal with them.” They both nod, then Jade stands up, saying, “And now that we have those yew berries and cherries, we can try to diagnose Mirror.”  
“Hey, where is mom, by the way?”  
“She went out into the camp, Jun. Will you go get her while I get Mirror ready?”  
“Yeah sure thing. Plume, you wanna come with?”  
He groans, throwing his head back. He fidgets in his seat and makes another loud groan, “Yeeeah, I’ll go with you… I need to stretch my legs anyway.”  
“Okay. I’ll be right back. I’m just gonna put up my gear.” Dashing up the stairs, I go into my room and put up my bow and quiver, just throwing them on my bed. Glancing at my swords, I think for a moment, then decide to throw them on the bed. It’s the end of the day, and I’m not on guard duty or anything so I’ll be fine. Running back out of my room, I jump over five steps and land, a bit of pain in my feet, but I walk it off as I go towards the door. “C’mon bro!” I shout as I’m already heading out the door and he dashes up to me.  
Plume has dark fur like mine with some dark orange spots on his forehead and his paws. He’s also wearing a shawl he bought in town. It’s a dark purple with pale orange on the edge of the garment.  
“You been doing okay, bro?”  
He looks at me and nods, “I made some more bracelets and necklaces today. I was hoping to sell them in town tomorrow, but with those Dark Fey around, I dunno if I should go out…”  
“I can take them into town with me when me and Jade go. We might take Silver with us too, if he’s not busy.” He smiles at me, “Thanks sis.”  
“It’s no prob.” I smile back and pat his back a little. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”  
“I know sis. You’re always looking out for me. Oh, hey,” Plume raises an arm, pointing out mom who’s talking to Hide, who has a pile of bones, meat, and furs near her, “There she is.” I look to him and give him a mischievous grin. He throws his head back again, and I start charging at her, and when I do she turns to face me. I keep running and right when I’m about to reach her, I slow down and give her a tight hug. Plume walks up shortly after and just says, “Hi mom.”  
“Hey son. Hi daughter.” She pats me on the head, then looks at my bandages, “What happened to you??”  
“Oh, uh, another bear…”  
“Good grief, Jun. What am I going to do with you?”  
“Um… Love me?”  
“That’s right, kiddo.” She hugs me back and we let go of each other, “So what do you kids need?”  
“We just wanted to let you know that I got some of those berries for Mirror so we could do that diagnosis.”  
“Ah! Splendid. Then, I shall head back to help with that. I’m sorry Hide, but I’ll have to go.”  
“That’s no problem, Blossom. I’ll probably be here when you return, or around the fire if it’s late.” My mom nods at her and we start walking back to the house. As we’re walking, I begin to tell my mom about what happened on our way back from hunting. She nods along as I tell her how we fought an owlbear, and at this she sighs, “My my, Juniper. You keep running into this trouble and I can’t help but worry when you go off hunting.”  
“I… I know Mom. I’m sorry to worry you. But it’s fun!”  
She laughs a little, her brows arched slightly with discomfort, “I know dear… What else happened?”  
“We ran into these, weird, Dark Fey creatures. They shape-shifted from ravens into these, human-like red-skinned monsters. They had scorpion tails and bat wings.”  
“That is strange,” I nod as she continues, “I wonder if they have anything to do with what happened to Mirror.”  
“You think those things can use magic?” Plume interjects.  
“It’s quite possible. What else do you know about them Jun?”  
“I-I don’t really, know much outside of their appearance, and that they tried to carry me and Silver off.” At this, Mom stops for a moment, her eyes are wide and she looks like she’s far away. After a moment or two, she looks to both Plume and I, and says, “I’m glad they didn’t take you, Juniper.” She wraps her arms around both of us and pulls us close to her. We hug her back and she says, “If anything happened to you two… I just can’t imagine what I would do without the both of you in my life.”  
“Don’t worry Mom, we’re not going anywhere any time soon.” My arms squeeze harder, and after a moment, I feel Plume do the same, and then I feel her tap my shoulder and I let go, the sound of her taking a deep breath in makes me laugh a bit as I look at her.  
“Sorry.”  
She waves one of her hands, returning a small smile to me. “Let’s go see how Mirror is holding up.”  
“Oh, right! You’ll need these!” I take out the yew berries and the cherries and hand them to her.  
“Thank you Jun for these.” She stores them in the pouch she has around her waist and we continue toward the house.

When we arrive, Mirror is sitting on the armchair. He looks fine, with his grey pelt that has a white spot covering his entire chest, and he even smiles at the three of us. Jade is sitting on a small sofa instead of the floor this time, and at the back of the living room is some feathery cots, one of which is kind of messy. To the right of the doorway is a small hearth that Mom uses to brew tonics and concoctions used for medicine, and she has tons of shelves for herbs, fruits, roots, leaves, and other items used in brewing up cures. The stairway is at the other end of the house and we have a window under the stairs as well as to the left of the living room.   
“Welcome home,” Jade says as we walk through the doorway.  
“Good evening,” Mirror says after her. I smile at him and walk over to the space between the armchair and the small sofa. Reaching one paw over to Jade, I rub the top of her head and she smiles. Mom walks toward our guest, “Mirror, how are you feeling?”  
“Right as rain, ma’am. I think I’ll be good to go back if you’ll allow me.”  
“Yes, yes. We will, but I want to test something first, especially since you’ve been in here twice within the week for the same thing.” Glancing over, he has a half frown on his face and says, “Very well.”  
Mom pulls the cherries from her pouch, “These are…?” She trails off and looks at him expectantly.  
“Cherries, ma’am.”  
“Right. And these are…?” She says pulling the yew berries out from her pouch with her other paw.  
“Um. cherries, but…” He starts, but looking at him, there’s a strange gleam in his eyes, and suddenly his hand shoots for them, snatching them from my mother’s hand! Quickly I grab his forearm and squeeze tightly. He groans as I do and his hand, very slowly releases the berries and they fall to the floor. Plume quickly stomps them into a small mess and even scrapes his feet across the dirt floor, smearing them into a nice, muddy, red paste. Releasing Mirror’s arm, he grabs it with his other hand and looks at me, his brow furrowed, “What-what the…”  
“Hun, you’ve been cursed, probably by a Fey. While this one is a more lethal one, they ultimately just use magic on us, and other people and creatures in the forest as a bit of entertainment for themselves. It’s a bit normal for it to happen every now in then. If it wasn’t for you, it would probably be someone else.” At this, I think to Merry Bird and wonder if he’s been enchanted by a Fey before. Maybe that’s why he hangs out with Drop.  
He turns back to Mom, “Oh… Well that’s nothing you can’t handle, Blossom!” and she shakes her head, putting the cherries back in her pouch. “It’s something I can’t handle indeed. I unfortunately don’t know how to remove curses from the Fey. It’s part of the reason why we don’t interfere with them, aside from the fact that they are tricky beings and we share this forest together.”  
“But if you can’t fix this, then who-” My mom raises her hand to him.  
“There’s a human in town, a patron of the God Pelor, by the name of Milintica. He can heal you. I’ll have Jade and Juniper take you into town, as Jade knows of Milintica and where he is, and Juniper can repel any beasts or monsters in the forest.”  
“Yeah, and I can ask Silver or Song to come with if you want.”  
Mirror turns to me and after a moment he says, “Okay. I trust your abilities Juniper, and if you think we need more muscle, I’ll trust your judgment.” I nod to him, and he nods back.  
“Yes, now that that’s settled, let’s go out and relax,” Mom says, “today has been long and rough.”  
Plume almost immediately turns around and starts heading out the door.  
“You can say that again.” I say, and Jade chuckles softly before she stands up and leaves, Mirror following behind her. I start going with them when my mom catches my shoulder, and I pause at the doorway.  
“Jun, before you go.” She walks over to the hearth and grabs her staff. Its shaped kind of like a shepherd’s crook but its warped with the entire handle of the staff looking like a twisted ribbon, with dried autumn leaves pasted all over it and a dull gemstone stuck on top of where the staff’s hook starts from the handle. She places her hand on my bandages and I wince, but relax as she touches the wound and murmurs something. A dim, green light shines briefly, like how the trees of the forest shine slightly in sunlight. As soon as the light fades, I feel the bandages, and I can’t feel the wound any more, and I smile. “Thanks Mom.”  
“Anything for you, my child. Now go! Have fun tonight.”  
I beam at her, cut the bandages around my body, and run off into the mass of other cats.  
Even though I should unwind a bit, I can’t rest just yet. I want to talk to everyone about what happened at the end of the hunting session. Those strange things that could change shape… Now that I think about it, can they change into one of us? Maybe… I’ll keep that thought on the back burner for now, and instead I’ll just focus on telling others what I know for sure: that some red winged creatures attacked us, tried to abduct us, and could take the form of ravens.  
When I leave the house, I almost immediately run into Song and Plume who are talking quietly. Smirking, I slink over to them, “What are you two up to?”   
“Oh, Jun!” Song jumps a little, his face a little flushed, my brother looks away and toward the ground, “We-we were just uh…”  
“Oh I know what’s going on here~” I grin widely and wink.”  
“You, you do-?”  
“Yeah, I do,” I continue coyly, “You were telling Plume about what happened after we finished hunting, weren’t you?”  
“Uh, yeah! Yeah, that’s it!”  
I squint at him briefly. That’s not what they were talking about. “Well, don’t worry. I already filled him, Jade, and my mom in on all that. I know I was dodging earlier about telling people, I just wanted to wait until we had a larger congregation to tell more people at once.”  
“Ahh, that’s a good idea, Jun. I did tell a handful of other people around the camp as well, so I’m sure that’ll help assure people that I wasn’t just making up a tall tale.”  
“Good, good. That’s good…” I look towards one of the campfires we have set up for tonight and there’s a good ten to fifteen catfolk around it. Nodding, I say, “Okay, I’m gonna go and spread the word.” Song smiles at me and turns back to Plume, who looks back to him as I start to make my way to the group of catfolk.  
Not too far from this rest area are two other campfires about nine feet away. I stand up on one of the logs that has no one on it and is in the middle of the triangle of flames.  
“Hey, everyone! Can I have your attention please!!” Many cats turn and face me, and I continue, “Today, while we were hunting for food, me and my hunting mates ran into some foreign creatures that we’ve never seen in this forest! Their flesh was red, they had small pitch-black horns, and fleshy wings like a bat, and they were intent on abducting the three of us. And originally, they were disguised as ravens!” Everyone looks between themselves with faces full of either fear or disbelief.  
“So please, when we go out into the forest whether it’s in broad daylight, or at night right now, I beg of you to have a friend or two with you! If these things can change how they look then who knows what else they will disguise themselves as besides large birds-”  
“How do we know this isn’t a tall tale, Juniper!” I glance to the left, and standing there is Cloud Drop, his smug mug creating a burning anger boil in my chest.  
“Because I saw it happen! Silver Fang and Butterfly Song can both corroborate my ‘tall tale’ Cloud, you insufferable furball!” I hop down from my stand and start to march toward him, when I feel someone grab me from around my arms. It’s Silver again. Glaring at Cloud I let out a snarl and writhe against Silver’s grasp, but he doesn’t release me. I hear someone’s voice behind me, and taking a quick glance back it’s Needle in the Dark, “I’m willing to place faith in Juniper. Aside from her occasional gloating when she has a good hunt, she hasn’t been one to lie to any of us. I’ll make sure there are bigger groups for when we hunt, Juniper. Thank you for telling us your story tonight.” He hops down and the camp starts buzzing with discussion. Cloud and I stare at each other for a long time until he finally sits down, and I jerk myself out of Silver’s hold.  
“Thanks, Silver…”  
“It’s no problem, kiddo. You sure do have a fiery temper tonight though.”  
“Yeeeah… I dunno what’s gotten over me lately. Maybe I should take a bath or something. Cool off.”  
Silver nods and walks away, sitting next to Winter Hide. Taking a bath does sound good, but with those things around, I don’t really know what I can do instead. Looking around, everyone is busy talking and laughing near the campfires, having a good time. I let out a deep sigh, and start walking around until I find Jade, sitting by the flames with a cup with what I guess is just water. I sit down next to her, my back to the flames and letting out another sigh, “Cloud Drop pisses me off so much.”  
“Ooh I know what you mean. That arrogant look he always has is so infuriating.”  
“Exactly! And he always has to piss on your feet whenever you’re having a good day!”  
“’Piss on your feet’…?”  
“You know what I mean Jade!” We both start laughing.  
“So,” Jade starts, “Did you talk to Silver or Song about our trip into town?” My eyes flutter a bit and then I stand back up, “No. No I didn’t… I’ll go take care of that. I’ll probably grab Song since Silver was a little beat up today. I want to grab a fifth person to come with us, but I’m not sure who I should talk to…”  
“You could talk to Ink or Dynamic. They haven’t been hunting for a while and I’m sure at least Ink is restless from being in camp for so long.” I nod as I pull a paw to my chin contemplating what to do. Ruby Ink is a catfolk with a ring-pattern pelt and an additional red mark on their head that looks like someone poured a drink on them. She’s full of energy and can’t stay still for too long, and she enjoys hunting probably more than I do. However, we won’t be hunting, we’ll just be going into town to have Mirror healed.   
Dynamic Lock is a more relaxed catfolk with a dark grey base pelt with light grey stripes. He is a bit more of a sneak and I’m a little worried he might get into trouble when we go to town, and that’s not something I really want to deal with as one of the leaders of the group. I tap my foot on the ground a couple time and hum softly.  
“I dunno what I want to do Jade, but I’ll let you know what happens.”  
“Okay Jun. I’m sure we’ll be fine regardless with you and Song with us.”  
I nod and smile at her as I start looking for Song. Drifting amongst the conglomeration of cats around the campfires, Song isn’t anywhere to be seen. Eventually I run into my mom and Winter Hide who are talking intimately with each other. I walk up to them and my mom says, “Hi Juniper, what’s up?”  
“Hi Mom. Hey have you seen Butterfly Song anywhere?”  
She pauses, and says, “I think I saw him with Plume and some other cats earlier. They might’ve been near the river near our house.”  
“Oh okay,” I say, one of my eyebrows slightly raised, “I’ll go look over there.” And I begin walking that way as she shouts to me, “Be safe, hun!” I turn my head to smile at her and wave. As I get close, I hear the sound of music playing, and there’s a small group of other cats sitting in a circle on the soft earth, about twelve of them. In the middle, is Song playing a song on his lute, a small flame near him and my brother sitting with the ring of cats around Song. I also notice Merry Bird, and I go sit near him, “Hi Merry.”  
“Oh! Hello, J-Juniper.” We sit in silence for a moment as Song plays before he asks in a quiet, “D-do you like l-listening to Song’s music?”  
“Sometimes. I usually spend time talking to Silver or Jade, but this is nice.” He nods excitedly and faces Song again. I ask him, “Do you like his music?”  
He nods again, “I listen to Song play whenever I can. It’s so c-captivating.” Smiling at him, I face Song and listen to the music. The tempo is slow, and the instrument makes oddly soft yet attention grabbing notes, and there are no lyrics for this piece. It’s not long before Song’s music is finished and a couple of the cats clap, including Merry and myself. Song notices me and smiles, “Jun, I’m glad you’re here. You have any requests?”  
“Oh, no no, thank you, I just wanted to ask you for a favor.”  
He tilts his head slightly, “What can I do for you?”  
“Will you accompany me and Jade into town so we can have Mirror healed? He was cursed by a Fey or something and we need some muscle to make sure we get into town and back safely.”  
Song looks at me with a bit of surprise. “I’ll be happy to help you two to take Mirror into town, but I thought you’d ask Silver before me.”  
“Since he was hurt while we were hunting today, I figured I’d ask you for help.”  
“Ah, I see. Well that makes sense then.” He lets out a soft chuckle.  
“U-uh,” I hear Merry start and face him, “If you need m-more people to help you get into town, I c-c-can g-go with you, too.”  
I beam at him, “That’s perfect! I was thinking we could use one more person, just in case. Thank you so much Merry!” I get a little close to him to hug him, but he scoots back, so I relent and just smile at him. “Okay, we’ll meet at my house early in the morning to take Mirror into town. I’ll see you both then.” They both nod to me and I stand up and start walking back to where I saw Jade last.

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me criticism, but be gentle.  
> 


End file.
